TE15 Lithuanian Honey Cake

Irena Veisaitė & Aurimas Švedas

with that boatman’s help, we found ourselves on the other side of the river, in Žirmūnai. It is difficult to convey the emotions that overwhelmed us when we were reunited in Mr. Stabinis’s home. Everyone was exhausted from the long week of uncertainty. Mrs. Ladigienė could not forgive herself for leaving me to guard the apartment. And I, having spent a week on Trakų Street, realised how heavily the solitude, fear, and constant tension had weighed on me. When I saw them all alive and well, still sitting in the cellar, I began to shout uncontrollably. There are moments in life when one cannot control oneself . . . when one is simply carried by emotion. And Mrs. Ladigienė—as she told me later—was terribly frightened and even thought that my intense experiences had caused me to lose my emotional balance, or perhaps even my mind. In the end, we all simply embraced, crying and laughing from the joy of being reunited. For my part, I was happy that the apartment had been preserved, and a few days later we all moved back to Trakų Street. But soon new worries emerged. Mrs. Ladigienė was very concerned about her son, Algis, and her sisters. Algis was in Gulbinėnai, while her sisters were in the village of Vabalninkas. 18 We had not had any news of them for a long time, so all sorts of thoughts came into 18 Irena Marija Cecilija Paliulytė—Stefanija Paliulytė-Ladigienė’s younger sister— Natalija Ona Paliulytė, Severina Pranciška Paliulytė, and Kotryna Paliulytė—her three older sisters.

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